hi, right now im trying to buy a rebuilt engine for my 89 trans am GTA. originaly it had a 5.7 liter tuned port injection engine. the thing is, they use flat lifters in their engines, mine had roller lifters. apparently if i want roller lifters in my new engine, i have to have a special roller camshaft, is this true? i cant just take out their flat ones and stick in a new set of roller lifters? also, i want to convert my car to carburated. as far as i knew, all i needed to do was just hand them my old block, and they give me a rebuilt new one. can i use my old tpi heads on the rebuilt engine? (the tpi heads were recently rebuilt.) i thought heads were the same for both carburated 350's and tpi 350's but this guy says the compression is different and i will probly have to use their heads. can you guys please tell me what exactly i need on my new rebuilt engine to make it work nicely with a carb?

 

You need a roller cam with roller lifters. Plus some head work.
As far as the carb goes, you'll also need a vacuum advance dist, thus eliminating your computer. So your emissions equipment won't work right, plus your TC LU.

 

ok, TC means torque converter right? whats LU?? i read the tpi to carb article on this page and it seems easy enough, but what do you mean a vacuum advance on the dist.? on the distributor? or on the carb? sorry, im not really good with technical terms.... where can i buy a cheap/good distributor that will work with a roller camshaft? im not lookin for expensive hi-performance, im looking for low budget hi-performance is there anything special i need to know about roller rockers?

 

TC LU= Torque converter Lock up. I believe this is only for auto's,
someone pls. correct me if I'm wrong.

Vacuum Advance distributor= You will need a new distributor if you plan to use any carb that is not an oem or oem rebuild CC Q-Jet. Using a non- Computer Controlled carb(Edelbrock, Holley, etc.) requires replacing the computer controlled distributor, thus eliminating the computer.

As for doing this cheaply- good luck! It will be less expensive if you have a 5sp. because of the TC LU, but expensive never- the-less.

Using the Holley rebuilt CC Q-Jet will save you a lot of time and money, and also trouble. It will allow you to keep the current distributor, TC LU, and Computer.

Remember-Eliminating the computer is all or nothing. One of those parts listed above goes, they all go.

As for prices- My Vac. Adv. Dist. was 200$, and add $50+ for a new coil.

You can get a rebuilt dist. from an Auto Parts store($100), BUT, you will have to pay about $40 core, because your distributor isn't the same. So that would be $140-$250 for distributor.

The price of any Mechanical (Non-CC) Carb, will be about the same as the Holley rebuilt CC Q-Jet, whichyou can purchase at O'Reilly's for $282 core included.

If you want my opinion---I would have use the Holley rebuilt CC carb if I could do it all over again. But, I still don't know carbs very well. Reasons: CC Q-jet will probably outflow a 600cfm, and give you better gas mileage. Also for you, since you don't already have a carb, like I did, you will already be broke with jsut that purchase.

In closing: CC Q-Jet= $300+-, box to car
Edel/Holley= $300 + $250 distrib. + ????TC LU, + you lose the opportunity to install a Hypertech or Jet performance Chip. Which you could easily afford if you don't buy a new dist.

Hope this helps, sorry it is so damn long, but I jsut went through what you did, and wanted to help as best as I could

Brett

 

Yes, Brett you are right TCs are only on autos.

 

Yes, Brett you are right TCs are only on autos.

Honestly though why not stick with the TPI? You'll get better mpg and reliability. Though if you want to sell it, let me know.

 

Ya, whats wrong with TPI?? Might as well keep it if you ask me. Save you even more money, plus, you would have TPI

 

ah... if it were only that simple.... my tpi is toast. i figure there must be a big crack in it somewhere because its throwing maf codes and running like **** for no reason. ive bought 2 maf's now and THAT nearly killed me. i bought one aftermarket maf and it didnt help, then i took it to GM and they told me to buy a GM brand maf, so i did. guess what, nothing changed. they are like 500 a peice (canadian). im sick of screwing with tpi. im just gona buy a rebuilt engine, slap on a brand new edelbrock 600cfm performer carb and intake manifold and enjoy reliable performance for a change. as for the "TC LU" that can be rigged with a switch on the "asdl" for like... 5 bucks, all i need is to buy the switch and wire. from what i hear, those CC Q-jets are crap. i want my car to be computer free. so basicaly, its not like i dont want to keep the tpi, i just cant aford to.